simple ideas and projects for gardening with young children

Salad days

Ever stared at a salad bag in the supermarket and thought the contents look a little tired? Or, maybe like me, you look at the price and then put it back! Well, the good news is you can be eating your own fresh salad every day with minimal effort and cost.

Children of all ages love sowing, and mixed salad seeds are just perfect for starting out as you can’t really go wrong. They also germinate on a warm windowsill pretty rapidly, so are ideal for those children (and adults) with a limited attention span…

The best container for your cut-and-come-again salad is recycled: a plastic punnet – the kind you get in supermarkets to stop fruit getting squished (just make sure it is one with holes in the bottom).

Once you have your clean container, put a layer of compost on the bottom about an inch (or 5cms) deep or so and press it down gently so you have a firm, even surface.

Then give it a light watering; some children are more enthusiastic waterers than others, so you may need to give them a hand to ensure you have at least some soil remaining in the punnet. It’s important to water before putting your seeds on otherwise you’ll end up with a bunch of seeds in one place and nothing at all elsewhere!

Sprinkle a selection of seeds over to ensure an even covering but don’t fret too much about exactly how many seeds are on there – it’s not an exact science! You can buy mixed salad seed packets for about £1 and if you’re feeling adventurous, add some spinach seeds, radish, spring onion etc. as well to the mix.

Lastly, scatter a light covering of compost over your seeds – you’re aiming for just enough to cover them rather than a complete burying so that they expend all their energy getting to the surface.

Place the punnet on a piece of cardboard or something waterproof if you’re worried about your windowsill and then sit back and wait to admire your seedlings as they emerge. It should take a matter of days to see something happening (you can often see the first stirrings through the sides, under the soil – another reason why it’s a good idea to use the plastic punnets) and within a fortnight, it should be ready for a first cutting of mini leaves.

Be frugal with watering and only water if the soil is dry to the touch (but don’t leave it like a desert for days or the tiny seedlings will give up the ghost).

It’s up to you whether you thin some out and pot them on if you have space to grow them into full size salads, but if you leave them small, you should be able to get two or three cuttings out of each batch (scissors are the easiest way to harvest). It will look a little drastic, like a shorn sheep for a while in-between cuts, but it will come back again at least once. If you start another punnet as soon as you begin eating the first, you should be able to have a continuous supply.

And that’s it – a really easy and cost effective way to get fresh salad that has the added bonus of not being sprayed with chemicals to keep it fresh in the supermarket.